The reflection of beams of internal gravity waves at a flat rigid surface

Abstract

The linear problem of the reflection of a beam of monochromatic internal waves at a rigid inclined wall in an exponentially stratified liquid with viscosity and diffusion is considered. In such a medium there is, as well as the reflected wave, a boundary-layer flow at the plane with split spatial length-scales for the velocity and density variation. Viscosity and diffusion restrict the limiting value of the geometrical compression coefficient of the beam. The solution has no singularities at critical angles of reflection. Calculations for the reflected beam and boundary flow are performed for an incident beam radiated by a point mass source.